There is a strong technological trend towards the automation of activities which are carried out in business offices. This trend has resulted in the development of word processing stations, electronic typewriters and computerized work terminals. As greater hardware and software has developed, it has become possible for individuals to be much more productive in their individual jobs. It has, however, become apparent that a productive office environment requires substantial communication between the people working in the office as well as the capability of referencing stored data and communicating through data networks across long distances.
In response to this new communication requirement, there have been numerous proposals offered for implementing local area networks. The design of such networks is made difficult due to the existence of incompatible communication formats used by various types of office equipment including computers, the wide variety and types of terminal work stations and the complexity in providing the large number of communication paths required between a substantial number of end terminals.
In view of the above problems regarding communication in the office environment, there exists a need for a local area network which can provide communication between a plurality of dissimilar terminals and can communicate with computer systems using incompatible formats.